Cheap fireplace mantle pt 1

I have gone back and forth on what to do with the fireplace. It's a huge part of the living room and the only thing I knew is that I wanted to keep the brick and I wanted to keep the mini make over cheap.

The wood costs $15.00, the stain $6.00, bucket of nails $4.00

Here is our progress so far. Mike had a short day today, so armed with my inspiration pics he started on the mantle.

Here's the before (I know your loving the paint colors)

After the brick was painted (with the small original mantle)

Please ignore my bad paint job

The original wood, then we decided it wasn't beefy enough so Mikey went and got a 1x6

Here's the size that works for us

We're also going to put bigger trim on the ends of the shelves

Mikey distressed the wood a bit with a hammer

Stay tunned for the finished project later this week!